Lords of the Night
by pimpilidimpi
Summary: Potters gave Harry to Dursleys to protect him from the war. When Vernon goes too far, someone very unexpected comes to the resque. AU, DarkButNotEvil!Harry, vampires, Super!Harry. Read and enjoy
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**19 May, 1985**

_Help!_

Lord Amon Auctorius looked up from the tiny picture he was just finishing and blinked twice in surprise.

_It hurts! Help! Uncle… Please…_

He looked around trying to locate the source of strange sound. Mikhel and Jean, his guards, stood straight on both sides of the door and gazed blankly forward, just as they always did. He shook his head and was about to return to his painting, when once again mysterious pleads for mercy filled his head.

_I'll be good… Please… Aaaah!_

Last scream was so piercing that he subconsciously reached up to protect his ears. He glanced at the guards, but they didn't seem to have noticed anything.

"Jean," he asked softly.

"My Lord?" His pale, blond head was bowed, as was required by protocol.

"Have you heard anything?"

"No, my Lord."

"I see."

He walked quickly to the middle of the room. With one gesture he banished the furniture to the walls, he needed some space for what he was about to do.

He summoned some white chalk and with the practiced ease of a person who had done this many times before, he drew circle around him and started filling it with runes and symbols. Whole thing took him barely more then few seconds and yet each of the circles he drew was ideally round, each shape perfect.

He straightened up and started muttering something quietly, at the same time abruptly throwing his hands up in the air. The symbols surrounding him started glowing; other lights went off. A sound, barely on the edge of audibility filled the chamber.

Amon listened intently, trying to catch anything unusual in the melody he knew so well. It was humming of the magic, which enveloped and connected together every living being. Amon has spent more time listening to it than anyone in the world. He whistled something very quietly and felt heat coming from the magic circle on the ground and increasing. Magic was responding to his question, but the signals he received were not comforting at all. There seemed to be some disarray, some turbulence in the usually calm melody.

Like an echo, the scream that he had heard before returned to him: _Help…_

Amon felt worried. There was someone out there who was very strongly in tune with magic. It took a great amount of power too channel anything like this straight through Earth's magical core. Some vague feelings yes… that happened very often. But a comprehensible verbal message? Amon was old, very old and yet he couldn't recall such occurrence.

Once again he whistled and once again magic answered. With a few gestures, he formed his own life energy according to the directions that magic gave him and in one short flash of light he disappeared from the room completely.

His guards remained on their places. They have seen many things while on duty.

* * *

The first thing Amon felt when he reappeared was unmistakable smell of blood. His senses flared up and for a moment he was about to loose control; he hadn't felt such a strong desire for many, many years. He licked his lips and breathed deeply, but it didn't help. He wanted to drink this blood; he wanted to taste it in his mouth. The smell was intoxicating, overwhelming. It was as if he was young again, barely changed, driven by his instinct only. 

"Help…"

A small whimper brought him out from his stupor and he finally took notice of his surroundings. He was standing in the hallway of a small, and as far as he could tell, very tastelessly furnished house. There were voices and a light coming from behind the door; Amon reached out with his magic and enhanced senses and realized that they were all coming from some strange box, no doubt some insane device of non-magical humans. Two males and one female were sitting on a coach and it seemed that the speaking-box had their full attention. Good.

Another muffled whimper came from behind one of the other doors in the hallway, one that was definitely to a cupboard under the stairs. Amon soundlessly moved in that direction but as he approached, the delicious smell grew stronger and more tempting. He closed his eyes and quickly performed some control-strengthening ritual. He could only hope that it would be enough.

Then moving in quick, fluent motions, he opened the door, grabbed whoever was inside and teleported straight to the only place he could think of; Aluvitara, House of The Storm.

* * *

Aileena, Fae-Lady of the Storm, had of course felt the strange disturbances in magic that had occurred that evening. It worried her. _Humans…_ she thought bitterly. Belonging to a race that was renowned for its tolerance, she always tried to find excuses and explanations for their ridiculous behavior, but there were times, when she simply ran out of excuses. They fooled around with those wands of theirs, with no knowledge of the consequences their actions would have. They abused the power they were given and were not even aware of it. She was absolutely certain, that whatever was going on this evening was also caused by some irresponsible wizard somewhere. 

She watched the never-ending storm outside the window. It was unusually violent tonight. She tried to find clues in the patterns of the lightning, but it was nearly impossible. She sighed in frustration. Waiting and being unable to act, when something was so plainly wrong… it was driving her mad.

Maybe, if she screamed loud enough, it would make this useless husband of hers come and calm the storm a bit; just so she could read the lightening and get some answers.

An unexpected noise interrupted her musings. She turned around from the window quickly and gaped for a while, as she tried to comprehend the sight that greeted her. In the middle of her bedroom stood Lord Amon Auctorius, head of the most powerful vampire clan and Lord of the City. In his arms, he was holding an unconscious child, and judging from the amount of blood, the child was also heavily injured. His eyes seemed mad.

"Lord Auctorius," she said, hiding surprise from her voice and bowing her head slightly. "What… what happened?"

"Lady… Pardon the intrusion…" he said in a raspy voice. "Save the child!" He looked at her with panic and then finally lost it. He started licking the blood from the little boy's hands hastily, almost madly.

Aileena blinked. Quickly, she summoned all her strength and called the lightning to her aid. She placed the most powerful binding spell on the boy she could think of, hoping that it would be enough to keep him with her and ordered Aluvitara (the castle was sentient) to throw out Lord Amon. For a while nothing happened and she feared that her powers would not be enough to match those of vampire lord, but finally he disappeared.

She fell to the ground exhausted, and the last thing she saw before fainting were her servants flying in, alarmed by the noise.

* * *

**5 June, 1985**

Amon sat in the audience room, waiting for Lady Aileena to come. He was collected now, two weeks after tasting the boy's blood; collected enough to come in such a close vicinity of the little human. And yet, he still remembered the pleasure and pain that filled him the moment he finally lost his control that fateful evening. From any sensible point of view, he knew he shouldn't come here.

The Lady of the Storm would surely accept a letter of apology for his actions, especially in the given circumstances. He was certain, that after all she had seen, she would rather keep him far away from the Aluvitara, at least as long as the child remained here.

The thing was, that he simply couldn't bear the thought of never seeing him again. Something drove him here, some insane need to be close to the boy, to sense his presence. He was pretty sure that it wasn't simply a need for his blood. No, that particular problem was taken care of, with help of quite a few remarkably powerful slaves that he kept specifically for that reason. His hunger was satisfied, at least temporarily.

"My Lord, Lady Aileena is waiting."

He followed the servant to the much smaller and cozier room, which she had chosen for his visit. He wondered about that; although they had been allies on many occasions throughout the centuries, their relationship always stayed rather cold, mainly due to the race differences. Did she consider the weakness he had shown reason enough to familiarize? Or was there some other, more complicated reason for choosing this particular place?

He bowed slightly to show respect and gratitude; she bowed much lower and yet not as low as she used to.

"My Lord," she said in a bit of a strained voice. "I hope you do not mind the room. I am still recovering after…" She paused, doubtlessly expecting him to find a proper way to describe the events from two weeks ago. However, he had no intention of doing that; he still wasn't sure what exactly had happened. Instead, he settled on apologizing. He had a feeling, that he would do that a lot this evening.

"I'm terribly sorry for that, My Lady. Perhaps there is some way I could assist you? Is there anything you need?"

"Thank you for your kindness, My Lord. Please, do sit down," she replied, pointing to a comfortable armchair and taking place in another one at the same time.

"So, My Lord, apart from apologies, what is the reason for your visit?"

He smiled at her frankness. Perhaps she chose this room simply to be able to talk more openly and without all the ceremony that was usually involved during the meeting of two Noble beings such as themselves.

"As you have guessed, My Lady, I wanted to apologize and explain my actions," he started. "And discuss the future of the boy."

"Of course. I have to admit I am curious."

"How is he faring?"

She smiled slightly before responding, "Surprisingly well, for someone who a fortnight ago wasn't even aware that such thing like magic existed. He is well now, despite the blood loss and terrible general condition he was in when you brought him."

He only nodded to that. He had expected as much.

"He is very curious and very timid at the same time. He doesn't speak French though and most of my fairies have never heard a word of English, so I'm afraid he might feel a bit isolated."

"I see."

"So, My Lord, can you tell me how you found him?"

Slowly, not revealing too much, he described the ritual he used to locate the source of magical disturbance and explained the condition he found the boy in.

"As you can understand, he needed immediate medical attention. Unfortunately, I was not able to provide it myself and I doubt any other vampire would have shown even half of the restraint I did."

She nodded in understanding and then looked at him with unveiled interest gleaming in her eyes.

"I must say that this is the part of the story I find difficult to understand. Why the restraint? I mean, he is just a human after all, albeit a powerful one. Why stop yourself, when draining him would doubtlessly increase your power considerately?"

This was precisely the question Amon didn't want to answer, but he supposed that he owed her some explanation, after all the trouble he had put her through.

"It's quite complicated, My Lady. As you might have heard, occasionally vampires can, sort of, hear magic. It's rare ability, which comes with age and which therefore I possess in abundance. I heard the boy calling for help, through the magic. It happens fairly often that someone subconsciously projects his or her feelings, or even vague ideas, into the magical plane. However what this boy has done… I have never encountered something like that before. He managed to project words, fully understandable words. He must have incredibly good communication with his magical core to achieve something like that."

"His name is Harry."

Amon blinked, surprised by such an irrelevant comment.

"Harry Potter. His parents are James and Lily Potter. For some reason, they decided to give their son away and he ended up in the hands of Petunia and Vernon Dursley. I believe Petunia is Harry's aunt, Lily Potter's sister, but I can't be sure. I think that Harry himself doesn't know how his guardians are related to him."

Amon blinked again. Why exactly was she telling him all that? And, more importantly, why did she even bother to check all this information?

As if sensing his unasked question, she continued with a small smile, "I was really curious as to why a vampire, such as you, My Lord, would put himself in such undeniably inconvenient situation for sake of one human child. So I did a bit of research."

"I see," he replied. "I hope I have made my reasons clear now, My Lady. I also would like once again to apologize for my actions. It pains me to know that I have caused you so much inconvenience. If I had any other way…"

"I know, My Lord. However, I have to admit that I am actually glad that you did, as you have said My Lord, 'caused me inconvenience'. Harry is a most peculiar and most interesting child."

Again this evening, he was surprised. Could it be that the Lady of the Storm grew fond of the little boy? It was no secret that her marriage to the Lord of the Storm has not been a happy one and was never blessed with children. Some speculated even, that it wasn't actually consummated, although Amon found this particular gossip difficult to believe. After all, they have lived under one roof for more than a thousand years.

Could it be that Harry has awoken some sort of motherly feelings in the usually cold and uncaring Fae-Lady? Every time she spoke of him, there was a strange fondness in her voice. Suddenly he realized, that getting Harry back might be much more difficult then he expected. He tried to keep anxiousness out of his voice as he asked, "What do you mean, My Lady?"

"Well, he is timid and curious at the same time. As I already mentioned, he had no knowledge of magic prior to meeting you and yet he is not afraid at all. He asks most interesting questions, some I don't even know how to answer."

"Such as?"

She smiled again and this time he had no doubts that she cared for the boy. He cursed inwardly, this really complicated things a lot.

"Only yesterday, he wanted to know whether fairies have special shampoos for their wings, and if I have ever met an individual named Batman. He also was very concerned about his return home. It seems that this prospect scares him a lot. As I didn't know your plans, My Lord, I preferred not to raise his hopes."

"He doesn't have a home to go back to," Amon said shortly.

"I beg your pardon?" Aileen asked.

"I wanted to know who had harmed the boy so much. I discovered that his so-called family has abused him heavily since the day he got under their care. It was only few days after I brought him here and I wasn't exactly in control of my actions." He shrugged after that. He really didn't need to explain that to her.

"I understand. I suppose that Harry will be glad to know that he won't go back there."

"Perhaps we could go and tell him the news now?" he asked lightly.

Aileen looked at him sharply. "Are you sure that this is a good idea, My Lord? I have not yet recuperated my powers after last time…"

"I don't think that this sort of intervention will be necessary today, My Lady," he replied.

"I would hate all the effort you've put in to saving him to be in vain, My Lord."

"I believe we share this sentiment, but I assure you, My Lady, there is no risk." He wished that he was really so certain of it. Now, that he was so close, the odd need to see the boy was slowly overwhelming him.

"Very well, My Lord. A servant will bring him." She clapped twice, which he knew was unnecessary gesture and as if on cue the doors opened and young fae led Harry in, holding his hand. The boy smiled shyly at Aileena and gazed curiously at him at the same time. There was no fear in his eyes, which was surprising in the boy, who suffered so much at the hands of the adults.

"I remember you." The boy said suddenly, looking him directly in the eyes. "You are the angel. I dreamed about you. You found me."

Amon smiled at Harry, wondering at the same time how could the boy remember anything if he was unconscious the whole time.

"Harry," Aileena spoke gently. "This is Lord Amon Auctorius. And yes, he did indeed saved you. What should you say?"

"Um… Thank you, Auntie Aileen?" He looked at her questioningly, waiting for some confirmation. She nodded and gestured toward Amon encouragingly.

Harry took a hesitant step forward and then said loudly, "Thank you, Lord Amon Auc... ugh…" He turned to Aileena for help, but Amon spoke before she could say anything.

"You are welcome. I'm glad to finally meet you, Harry. I also think that you will be happy to know that you will never see your former guardians again."

Harry didn't seem to understand this, so he turned to Aileena again.

"You are not going back to your aunt and uncle," she explained. Boy beamed at her and thanked both of them profusely, without any prompting this time. Shortly after that, the young fae servant led him out of the room.

The whole meeting had not even lasted five minutes and yet it left Amon with entirely changed mindset about Harry. Before, he had thought that once he saw the boy, he would understand his strange pull towards him. Now, he knew he wanted this boy. He wanted to take him with him, to teach him, to raise him and one day… turn him. Once he looked up at his hostess, there was new determination in his heart.

"It's time to decide Harry's future, My Lady."

"Of course. I…" she hesitated for a while. "I will be happy to offer him safe home here, in Aluvitara."

Something must have shown on Amon's face because she hastily added, "Unless you have something else in mind, My Lord?"

"I do. I am going to raise the boy myself, in the City."

"My Lord, Forgive me my impertinence but… How can you assure his safety? There are plenty of different creatures in the City who would be only too happy to hurt him." She didn't need to add 'including you'.

"They won't harm him knowing that he is under my protection." He knew that he didn't really answer her concerns, but truly… what answer could he give?

"My Lord, what about those who try to undermine your position? He will be your weak point, easiest way to strike… What if the pull his blood has on vampires is too strong for them to control themselves, despite your orders?"

"I assure you My Lady, there are ways to protect him from any of these dangers."

"My Lord," he could hear that she was desperate now. "He will grow up constantly in danger, hiding, running… He has suffered so much already. Here he could be happy. Careless, just as child should be…"

"My Lady, perhaps for the first few years he would indeed be happier here than in my home. But later? He is a human; he will grow different from you, violent, uncontrollable… Sooner or later he would push you away with his behavior. Someday the differences will be too much and he would leave, unprepared for the outside world."

"The same can be the case if he grows up among vampires," she replied shortly.

"Ah, My Lady, the whole point is that when the difference between him and other vampires becomes too much, he can always be turned into one and become a member of the society he grew up in. This something you cannot offer him."

She bowed her head in defeat.

* * *

Harry Potter thought that he was in heaven. 

He was a bit afraid at first, when the Angel said that he iwas taking him from the Castle. Although they told him before that he was definitely not going back to Privet Drive, he feared that maybe they changed their minds. Maybe they decided that he didn't behave well enough. He had tried very hard to be good boy, so that they would keep him and when he couldn't pronounce Angel's name, he had almost had a small panic attack.

As it turned out, he didn't need to be afraid at all. Angel took him to a different house, almost as big as the Castle although much darker. Harry didn't like it at first, but he tried to be brave. And then Angel told him a few things that Harry had always wanted to hear, ever since he was old enough to understand that he didn't have parents.

"Harry," he said, lowering himself so that Harry could see his face. "There are few things I want you to know. First thing is that I will never lie to you. I know you had bad life and you are not exactly ready to trust anyone yet, but you can trust me. I will take care of you. I will do what is best for you. I will be you father."

_Father!_ Harry was so happy that he simply jumped at the Angel and buried his face in his chest at the same time surrounding him with his arms. He could feel Angel, no, Dad, stiffen briefly, but then the man hugged him back. Despite the strange coldness of his Dad's body, Harry felt safe.

Later his father gave him an amulet and the ring.

"They are to show everyone, that you are under my protection. As long as you wear them no one will hurt you. Promise me that you will never take them off."

Harry nodded solemnly and promised, just as his Dad wanted.

After that Harry got his room, with big bed and a window and everything. His Dad helped him to undress and sat beside his bed, while Harry was falling asleep.

Harry truly was in heaven.

* * *

**Author note:** How was it? Good? Bad? Boring? I wanted to post it, so this is unbeta-ed version. Don't worry - I'm definitely going to find myself a beta, so sooner or later all mistakes will be corrected. Also, I will try to make future chapters longer, this one is some sort of warm up:) 

**Next chapter:** We will learn why exactly such powerful beings like Lady of the Storm and Lord Amon Auctorius wanted Harry so much. We will also see what Amon is planning to do to ensure safety of a little boy with delicious blood in the house full of vampires. Harry will make his first steps in learning magic and will discover his Dad's not-so-pleasant nature.

**Credits:** Harry's characterization is strongly influenced by story "Mine" by Gillian Middleton. Brilliant story, by the way.

Everything that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling and plenty of publishers. Only thing I earn from this is some satisfaction and bit of ego-stroking when I get nice reviews.

That reminds me: PLEASE REVIEW!

**This chapter was beta-ed by** **cocoidie-18.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**5 June, 1985, late evening**

"You are mad!"

Amon turned around and looked coldly at the only person who dared to speak to him in such a disrespectful manner.

Mort Lacoste, his cousin and the second eldest vampire of the Auctorius Clan was widely known for his contempt towards any sort of formalities, rules and traditions. His habit of saying openly whatever was on his mind had quite often caused problems, but Mort had enough skills to win any fight and enough money to get himself out of any trouble fighting couldn't solve.

And right now, he was furious.

"You are totally insane! Out of your mind! What the hell have you been thinking?"

Amon waited for Mort to finish ranting. There was no point in interrupting – his cousin needed to let his anger out before he could think clearly.

"A stinking human child? Here? This is the most ridiculous! Stupid! Imbecilic idea I've ever heard of! I can bet my house in Vavlova, that the boy won't survive a month in here! And even if you find a way to keep him safe, I just cannot fathom: what the hell you need him for?"

Amon had been asking himself the same question ever since he returned from Aluvitara. No, he had no idea why he wanted Harry so much. He didn't know what caused the strange, almost human emotions, that he felt when he saw Harry smiling and calling him 'angel'. However, he had no intention of showing any of his inner doubts to Mort.

"Are you finished?" he asked in a voice that could freeze hell.

"I am… Yes, I am."

"So now listen very carefully and make sure you understand me well, because I don't want to make you understand the hard way." Amon paused for the effect, even though he knew that Mort would not be affected by the threat.

"I do what I please and you are in no position to question me. I chose the boy to be my son and so my son he will be. I want to raise him here and so here he will be raised. No one in this house will dare to harm him against my orders."

"Just like Mikhel didn't?"

Amon grimaced. Just after Harry had fallen asleep, Mikhel, who was guarding the room from the outside, burst in and tried to attack the boy, mad desire for the blood clearly visible in his eyes. Amon had reacted instinctively and killed him. It was a pity, because Mikhel was fiercely loyal and very talented.

Mort noticed his expression and continued pressing on the subject.

"You've lost a very good soldier because of this mortal. And, if you keep him you will loose much more. Vampires in the City will be talking, you know that. There are already some that think you are showing a weakness with this "leave humans alone" shit. When they hear that you have actually decided to adopt the boy – you might even loose your position as the Lord."

"I doubt it." Amon replied coldly. "There is no other strong enough to take my place and they know it."

"Perhaps. Still, even if you manage to get your way with them, as you usually do, there is still the little matter of his safety. The boy will be our weakest link, easiest to attack. Our enemies won't hesitate and will use him against you!"

Amon walked to the window and gazed outside pensively. In the night, City looked like a sea of moving lights spreading beyond the horizon – colorful, lively and yet… deadly. Was there any way of shielding Harry from all the dangers lurking there and not making him weak at the same time?

He heard Mort talking behind him.

"I just don't understand you. There is so much to loose and so little to gain. Maybe this boy is special; maybe he has some unusual powers. But I just don't see the point in keeping him alive. Just drain him or give him back to Aileena and have her in your debt!"

"No!" Amon said, turning back abruptly and looking sharply at his brother. "I have my reasons." _Even if I am not sure what they are._

"Right… Why don't you turn him then? It would make things a lot easier."

"And have him spend rest of the eternity in the body of five-year-old? My dear cousin, that's cruel even for you…"

Mort snorted.

"Well, you want to have a child. You would have one that would stay this way for ever…"

Amon raised his eyebrows. His cousin's poor sense of humor managed to disgust him even after so many centuries.

"Don't be stupid! This boy… Harry… I've chosen him for my heir." As the words escaped his mouth, Amon felt strange calm and sense of assurance inside him. He knew the moment he spoke, that this was the right decision, even if, considering its importance it seemed a bit hasty.

Mort froze.

Being the second-eldest in their clan, he was the one who would inherit Amon's position in case of his death. Of course, vampire leaders had the right to choose their own heirs, but since Amon never bothered, Mort felt safe in his situation. And now, after more than two thousands years, he was not going to give it up without the fight.

"This is preposterous! I will not let you ruin our clan for some crazy idea. I don't care how _magical _the boy is – he is young, mortal and weak and nobody, nobody will ever treat him as an equal, even if you turn him. I'm leaving now, there's no point in talking to you any more. You've lost your mind! You will regret this, I'm sure!"

He turned around and walked to the doors in quick, angry strides.

"Stop." Amon's voice was like steal and Mort had no choice – he had to obey the direct order.

"Mort Lacoste, I've had enough from you. I have let you get away with plenty of things. I have given you freedom. I didn't react when you openly spoke against the clan policy. I never cared about all the trouble you caused. But perhaps, it was a mistake. It seems to me that I was to lenient. It's time that I reminded you of your rightful place! You will now go to your quarters and stay there until you are summoned. You will not contact anyone while in there. Tomorrow, during the adoption and inheritance ritual, you will be chosen as the heir's guard. Your life will be bound to his in such a way, that should he die you will die too. Should he suffer, you will suffer exactly the same way. This is my decision and my order. You should learn to hold your tongue."

For a while Mort just stood motionlessly. He was one of the most ruthless and cruel vampires and he absolutely despised humans. Before Amon managed to get all the heads of the clans to accept his relatively tolerant policy towards other species, Mort had taken part in countless mass murders and wars. He took pleasure from killing and torture and mortals were his favorite victim.

There was no worse punishment in his eyes, than the one he was just subjected to. Anger shone in his eyes as he turned around and stormed out of the room.

* * *

**6 June 1985**

Harry was woken up by the gentle touch of sunlight on his cheeks. He blinked and looked around the room, but his father was not there. Instead, strangest creature Harry has ever seen was standing next to his bed and watching him with pair of large, round eyes.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, yawning and stretching at the same time.

"Pido, young master. Master sent Pido to take care of young master and give young master breakfast, when young master wakes up, sir."

Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to process all that he had just heard and make any sense of it.

"Where is Dad?" he asked, trying to hide the anxiousness. What if his Dad decided to leave Harry alone? What if he didn't like him any more?

"Master is asleep, young master. It's the middle of the day." The strange creature answered. "Master asked to tell young master, that he will see young master in the evening and that young master shouldn't be worried."

Harry looked the creature in surprise.

"Why is Daddy sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"Every vampire sleeps during the day, young master."

Harry eyes widened and he moved back abruptly.

"That's not true!" he shouted. "Daddy is not a vampire! Daddy is a good person, very good. He is not a vampire… is he?" Harry finished much less certainly. He suddenly remembered his Dad's paleness and cold touch and wasn't really sure anymore.

"Master is vampire, of course he is. But young master is right too. Master is a good person and a vampire."

Harry didn't seem really convinced, but he dropped the matter and decided to ask about another thing that troubled him at this moment.

"You are not a fairy," he said.

"No, young master, sir. Of course not. Pido is a house-elf."

"You have funny ears, Pido."

Pido seemed rather taken aback by this statement. Uncertain what to make of it, he spoke rather hesitantly:

"Pido is sorry, young master. Pido will try to hide them…"

"No, I like them." Harry interrupted him and smiled nicely.

"Pido is glad." The house elf replied with cautious half-smile.

Pido helped Harry with getting dressed and washing himself. It wasn't that Harry couldn't do those things by himself, but both the clothes he was given and the bathroom were very different from anything he was accustomed to.

After that they ate breakfast Harry asked what they were going to do.

Pido was really surprised by the question and had the hard time answering. Seeing that, Harry suggested playing some games together, which turned out rather dull, because Pido was letting Harry win all the time. After that Harry started to ask various questions about his Dad, which Pido was happy to answer in his own way. Harry learned that his father was very important Lord and that he lived in the City.

Comprehending what exactly the City was took some more time. Harry insisted that every place needed a name, and 'City' was not a proper one. Finally though, he understood the concept behind it and surprisingly it was the memory of his Aunt and Uncle that helped him.

City was a place, were all magical beings could live peacefully and without interference, ruled by their own laws and customs. When Harry remembered how intolerant his relatives had been, he easily understood the need of such a place. Also, since there was only one City, it didn't need to be called any other way to be distinguished.

Discussions with little Harry were rather stressful to poor Pido. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were almost exactly the same size, but Harry treated Pido rather like a friend, or a playfellow than a servant. It made the house-elf very uncomfortable – all the time he feared that someone would enter and see him in such an inappropriate situation.

Although he didn't dare showing his feelings, he welcomed the evening and darkness with relief.

Harry, on the other hand, was more and more apprehensive. Was his father going to bite him? Harry tried to believe that it was not possible, but small distrustful part inside kept telling him that there was no reason for anyone to actually keep him and if Dad actually wanted to eat him, it would explain a lot…

So, when Amon arrived (and his son's room was the first place he went, after he woke up), he was greeted with a sight of one very scared boy hiding behind the equally afraid house-elf. Amon knew that he was treading on a thin ice with the abused child, so despite the fact that the situation displeased him, he welcomed Harry gently and asked what was wrong.

"Daddy?" Harry asked uncertainly, looking up at him with those wide, piercing eyes. "Are you going to bite me?"

Amon lowered himself so that he could look his son in the eyes. He spoke gently although inside he felt rather angry.

"No, Harry. Remember what I told you yesterday? I will never, ever hurt you. Do you understand this?"

Harry nodded.

"Because… because Pido said you're a vampire."

"Did he now?" Amon looked up and glared at the house-elf, which cowered in the back of the room.

"But he said that you are a good vampire and you are, aren't you, Daddy?"

Amon smiled and pulled his son into a hug.

"Of course, I am a good vampire, son."

"Good." Harry said, comforted and reassured.

After a longer while Amon pushed Harry away and stood up.

"Listen now, Harry. Very important things are going to happen tonight. You will undergo a ritual, very complicated ritual which will confirm to everybody that you truly are my son. We have no time to explain every detail of it, so you will have to trust me that nothing wrong will happen to you."

"Yes, Daddy."

"At one point I will have to cut your hand. It won't hurt much, but it's important that you don't show that you are afraid."

"Yes, Daddy, I will be brave."

"Good boy." Amon said and Harry smiled proudly.

True to his father's prediction, Harry didn't understand anything from what was happening later. There were many people watching the ceremony and majority of them didn't look at Harry too kindly, but the little boy was not afraid, because his father was holding his hand.

Strange symbols were covering the floor and walls of the chamber and many vampires (Harry now noticed their pale complexion, bloodshed eyes and fangs) chanted words in some obscure language. Finally, after what seemed like eternity Amon took small knife with ivory handle and made triangular cuts on the insides of his and Harry's hands. Then he pressed the hands together, so that the cuts matched. Harry screamed piercingly when the magic started to bound them together.

* * *

Far away from the city Lily Potter woke up. 

She sat up abruptly and looked around with fearful expression of hunted animal. She breathed heavily until familiarity of the bedroom and James' snoring calmed her down a bit.

She slipped out of the bed, poured herself half-a-glass of water, walked to the window and drank slowly, watching the garden bathed in the moonlight.

Strange feeling of dread didn't leave, as it should.

She couldn't remember her nightmare, but it must have been terrible, for those negative emotions to linger for so long. Lily was used to terrifying dreams full of death, pain and cruelty. She had seen too much of such things in her everyday life not to be affected.

She learned special techniques to deal with this, but somehow tonight it was different and the calming exercises didn't help. Lily felt as if something dreadful had happened although she had no idea what.

"Lily…" she turned around and smirked. James was obviously dreaming about her and judging from the way he held the pillow, the dream wasn't exactly innocent.

She kissed him gently on the forehead and grabbed her wand from the drawer.

She needed to check up on the children.

Melissa was lying on her back in the exactly same position that she fell asleep in. She never moved when she slept, never woke up in the middle of the night and never cried.

Petunia was the same, Lily recalled. Their father used to say that at night Petunia turned into an angel and Lily into demon.

It was strange, how much Melissa reminded Lily of her sister. She was just as thin, no matter how much she ate, just as stubborn (almost closed-minded) and had exactly the same strawberry-blonde hair.

Lily moved to the cradle, where her little boy, Sean, should have been sleeping.

Only he wasn't. Instead, he was sitting in the corner with his eyes wide open and grimace of terrible fear on his face.

"You can't sleep too, baby?" Lily whispered while lifting her child up. She hugged him gently and whispered meaningless reassurances, which he probably couldn't understand anyway, being only one-year-old. As she held him in her arms, memories of different child she used to hold this way returned to her suddenly. She hoped Harry was fine.

Finally, after long while she placed Sean back in the cradle.

Comforted by her children's presence, Lily convinced herself that the bad feeling was nothing more than a nightmare.

* * *

After the ritual was completed Harry was presented to all the members of the clan. He couldn't remember their names, but they all bowed to him reverently, which rather surprised him – he was not used to this sort of attention. He actually quite enjoyed it. 

After that, came another part of the evening, when very dangerously looking vampire swore to protect Harry with his life. Harry felt magic vibrating in the air when the vows took place. He could also see that many of the assembled creatures looked astonished, when they saw who his protector was.

Finally, when this was over, Harry could go to bed. He felt extremely tired, as the whole ceremony lasted well into the night.

The months that came later were probably the best time in Harry's childhood.

Pido was assigned as Harry's personal servant. The house-elf didn't dare complaining, but he wasn't happy with the arrangement. The boy treated him in straightforward manner, which always left Pido uncomfortable. Pido was also never disciplined, which left him with the strange feeling that sooner or later one huge punishment would come, to cover all those that Pido should have, but hadn't received.

Amon didn't have as much time for his child, as Harry would have liked and instead, he left the boy in capable hands of various tutors and caretakers. There was no plan, no routine in Harry's everyday life. Instead, all the time something new and unexpected happened.

Harry learned a lot: reading and writing, mathematics, horse-back riding, etiquette and history. Sometimes Cerentius, centaur that lived in the household, would take him to the observatory, tell the legends and facts about different stars and introduce him to fascinating world of astrology.

Harry enjoyed all those lessons, but his absolute favorite was magic. Amon decided to teach the boy himself – he just didn't trust anyone else with the task.

He was surprised how easily manipulating word around him came to the little human – Harry didn't need any instruction in connecting to his magical core; he could touch it effortlessly all the time and manipulate magic around him as if it was easiest thing in the world. It was enough for him to understand how particular type of magic worked and then he performed it flawlessly and sometimes even modified it to suit his own purpose.

Occasionally, Lady Aileena would come to inquire about Harry's progress and well-being. Harry liked those visits, because they meant whole afternoon spent on games in company of playful fairies from the Storm Court. Most of the inhabitants of the House of Auctorius were very serious and although Harry loved his new life, he didn't really have much fun.

Seeing that his son appreciated the company of fae-people, Amon bought him Nadia, young fairy from the noble, but impoverished family. She was sold into slavery to enable her parents to pay at least some of their debts.

Nadia was supposed to keep Harry company and teach him French, but it turned out that young fae was very mischievous and more often than not, they would run together from Harry's teachers and hide in the house, or play stupid, thoughtless pranks that irritated everybody to no end.

Amon was glad to see his son more self-assured and careless, just like the child his age should be.

Throughout all the lessons Harry was shadowed by his reluctant guard, Mort Lacoste.

Harry had, surprisingly, taken liking to severe and unpleasant vampire and called him 'uncle'; once Nadia followed his example and found herself immediately with knife pressed to her throat. She never did it again.

During those few months all the inhabitants of the house noticed gradual change in Mort's attitude towards his young charge. He kept calling Harry 'insufferable brat' and 'mortal weakling', but his words were laced with fondness instead of venom and his expression became almost nice.

Nobody was more surprised by this development than Mort Lacoste himself.

Amon observed this with hints of amusement, but he couldn't help wondering whether this was another example of the strange effect Harry had on all the powerful magical beings he encountered. He tried to find answers to all the question Harry's extraordinary talents provoked both in books and with the help of various rituals. He was not sure, until one morning Harry fell asleep on his father's lap and Amon started listening to the magical currents in the very similar manner as he did that first night, when he heard Harry's desperate plead for help.

He was surprised to see that somehow Harry constantly affected the threads of magic and shaped them similarly as faeries did, making everybody around him more pleasantly inclined towards himself. Amon wondered whether this was some sort self-defense against his previous treatment. He was certain that more in-tune with magic person was, more strongly he or she was affected by the spell. This would explain why it didn't work at all on Harry's Muggle relatives.

Amon was sure that Harry did this subconsciously and it explained also why Harry was in touch with his magical core all the time. Briefly, the vampire considered teaching boy how to control it, but he decided against it. Some would probably think that this sort of charms was immoral, but the effect were so subtle, that Amon doubted anyone would notice it and well, Amon had never cared much for morals.

* * *

**Author's note:** Answers to most of the questions are in my profile. I am really greatful for all the reviews and I especially appreciate those that provide some constructive critisism. Also, I'm sorry that the chapter is so short - I'm aiming at having chapters 5000 words long, so well... hopefully next one will be longer/

**Next chapter: **More about Harry's home life and more about other vampires' reactions to the fact that Lord Auctorius has just appointed human as his heir. Probably some other things, I don't really know yet.

**Disclaimer: ** Everything that you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling and plenty of publishers. Only thing I earn from this is some satisfaction and bit of ego-stroking when I get nice reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**21 December 1985**

There were plenty of things that Mort Lacoste hated. Sunlight, females that didn't go for one-night stands, laws restricting hunting to only some districts of the City… the list went on and on. But at the moment, on the absolute top of that list were overexcited children and giggly fairies.

He sighed theatrically when Harry and Nadia once again burst into laughter. Nadia flew up and down and her body was jerking violently as if she had a hiccup. Harry was jumping and clapping his hands with mirth.

"Good idea, Nady!" he kept repeating. Mort snorted when he heard the endearment. The boy had no sense of decorum whatsoever. Mort still wondered why exactly had he accepted being called "Uncle" – he felt embarrassed each and every time he heard it. He wasn't sure why he had allowed this foolishness.

Perhaps, there was no reasonable explanation. A lot of what happened around Harry appeared to defy the laws of logic. The boy seemed so terribly out of place in the House of Auctorius with his infantile behavior, his toys, his constant cheerfulness and his exuberant emotionality.

Tonight, Harry and Nadia were acting their absolute worst. Mort admitted that he understood their enthusiasm –they were both about to see the City for the first time.

Normally, Harry was not able to leave the House. His blood had maddening effect on the vampires and while he was safe enough from the members of Auctorius Clan, thanks to his heir status, nothing stopped others from attacking.

Tonight was different. Every year, on the night of the Winter Solstice there was a Grand Festival, during which all inhabitants of the City could meet peacefully to celebrate the end of year. Ancient magic guarantied that no harm could be inflicted upon anyone. If Harry's safety was their only concern, the boy could even go to the Festival unaccompanied.

However, that was not the case. Harry was, of course, causing great curiosity among all who held power in the City. And it would be perfect occasion for them to try and gain upper hand in the political games they all played. Harry was considered Amon's weakness and everyone would be only too eager to exploit it.

Mort thought that even having boy surrounded by guards was too much of a risk. But Amon insisted that Harry couldn't grow up shielded from the world.

"Everybody ready?"

Mort turned around abruptly and saw Amon coming down the huge staircase, dressed in formal attire of a the Leader of Auctorius Clan. Black and silver suited him and he would have been looking formidable if it wasn't for idiotic, benevolent smile on his face. Mort had to stifle a groan. He found Amons' reactions to Harry sickening.

"Yes!" replied Harry with a grin and few totally unnecessary jumps.

"Very well," Amon kept smiling. "Let's go then."

* * *

"Look there Nadia! Look at the fireworks!"

"Harry! Harry! Have you seen how quickly they fly?"

"Oh, look at these dancers, Nadia! Won't they get burned with all that fire?"

"Oh, what is this thing they eat? Is it ice-cream? Can I have some, Daddy?"

Amon watched his son and couldn't help catching a bit of boy's enthusiasm. As he had attended the Grand Festival every year for few centuries, he usually found all the attractions repetitive and boring. He kept coming only because it was expected from someone like him to make an appearance. Usually, he spent whole night discussing politics with various other important people, equally tired with the whole thing.

But this year, as he watch Harry's awed reaction to everything around, he couldn't help enjoying himself. He took the boy from one attraction to another, bought him huge blue lollipop, small play-sword and few other trinkets.

Finally though, it was time for his traditional round of polite and empty conversations. Count de la Roche, leader of Cerberus Clan was approaching with curious expression on his face. Amon scowled inwardly. The Count was dressed in red robe, which, while certainly good for hunting (no visible blood-stains), was very inappropriate for a gathering where potential prey was invited. As if that was not enough, robes clashed terribly with Count's red-brown hair. Overall effect was disastrous.

"Mort, go and have fun – show Harry the menagerie or something. I have to…"

"Don't worry," Mort interrupted impatiently. "It won't be difficult to keep the brat occupied here."

Amon snorted. He watched with some amusement as Harry dragged Nadia to the gladiators sparring on round arena and Mort followed them reluctantly.

"I see there was a grain of truth in the rumors, Lord Auctorius." Count de la Roche said quietly. He was following Amon's gaze and seemed honestly surprised by what he saw.

Amon looked at the vampire and greeted him with slight nod. Count returned the gesture with reverence and remained quiet, waiting for the answer.

"There usually is some truth in any rumor." Amon was not going to make this conversation easy.

"Of course. Yet, the rumor I'm referring to seemed so outrageous that I refused to believe it, until I found the proof."

"And have you found it?" Amon asked raising his eyebrows, as if making sure that he understood correctly.

Count de la Roche hesitated for a moment.

"Yes. Or no. All depends on the meaning of what I have seen, I suppose."

"It's easy to misinterpret anything our eyes show us, isn't it?" Amon said vaguely. He could play this game for almost infinite amount of time – he knew what information Count wanted, but was not going to volunteer it. Count had to ask directed question, if he wanted to learn anything about Harry. And asking direct question would give Amon right to ask question of his own and expect honest answer.

It was all down to such games in politics. Here, in the City, there was no big price to win – power was divided and stayed in the same hands for centuries. Amon had to content himself with small, pointless struggles – big, important wars had already been fought and won.

"Yes. It is." Count said. He seemed irritated by the conversation – a bit impatient perhaps. "Well, maybe you would be so kind, Lord Auctorius, and tell me what am I supposed to think, when I see the little human boy, dressed in Auctorius black and silver robes and accompanied by Mort Lacoste – vampire known to passionately despise humankind."

Victory! He was going to savor it.

"I wouldn't say Mort despises mortals – they are his favorite pastime." He said thoughtfully.

Count de la Roche blinked, disappointed by the lack of answer.

"Am I to understand, Lord, that you are not going to either confirm or refute all the gossip regarding the boy?" He asked.

"Oh, pardon me Count de la Roche," Amon managed to sound genuinely taken aback. "I was not aware that my personal decisions would cause such a stir."

"Well, they did." Count said with unexpected frankness. "And unless all that I heard is very far from truth, such reaction from other clans shouldn't surprise you."

"What have you heard, Count?" Amon asked.

"I have heard that you, Lord, have chosen the boy for your heir." Count emphasized absurdity of this claim with dismissive gesture. He seemed to consider the notion impossible.

"It's the truth." Blunt reply knocked the air out of the red-haired vampire.

"It's the… truth? But – why? How?" Count was shaking his head with denial, apparently unable to believe what he heard.

"Count? Are you feeling alright?" Amon asked with false concern. The other vampire's reaction annoyed him. Harry was his heir for more then half-a-year and Amon never made a secret of it. One would expect this to be wildly known by now and not cause such astonishment.

"Oh… yes, yes." Count replied absentmindedly. It was clear that the information distressed him.

"Lord Auctorius, good evening!" Another vampire joined the conversation. Amon smiled slightly at Huang Zhan-shi, Leader of Xiao Clan. Perhaps it was only matter of cultural difference, but more often than not Amon found conversations with him unusually interesting.

"Good evening," he replied politely.

In the same time Count finally became coherent enough to mumble some excuses and go away.

"You have scared him, Lord Auctorius," Lord Xiao said with solemn expression on his face.

"Have I?" Amon asked, not bothering to hide his amusement. "Honestly, I merely answered his question. I didn't threaten him. I didn't mention his debts. I can't see a reason to be afraid."

"You gave him the answer he feared."

"Perhaps." Amon said pensively. "But why would my appointing the heir scare anyone? I would rather expect my enemies to be pleased – it gives them some leverage, something to use against me, doesn't it?"

"Yes," said Chinese vampire, nodding. "But they know you well, Lord Auctorius. They know you never do something you wouldn't gain from. And yet, they do not see what you can possibly gain from this decision. So they are scared because they don't know your plan. They think of easy ways to attack you and they think: 'He must be prepared to such an obvious attack.' So they do not attack, because they are sure you will somehow turn the attack against them."

Amon laughed. He was aware of his reputation, of course, but this was the first time, when it worked so brilliantly in his favor. Because the sad truth was that he didn't have any plan –Harry was weak, unprepared for the role of the heir. There were many traditions, such as Heirs' Duel, for example, in which an heir could be asked to represent his clan. And Harry wasn't ready to fight anyone and he would not be in many years. Any clan leader could use this to gain upper-hand over Auctorius Clan.

"And also, "Lord Xiao continued, "they ask themselves: 'why?' You did something they don't understand and what they don't understand, they fear. They think you might go further. You did something very bold and they think: 'what will he do next?' They don't know what to expect and this scares them too."

Amon nodded. Lord Xiao's point of view was interesting and not far from what he thought.

"Thank you, Lord Xiao," he said. "Your words are wise." But he couldn't help thinking that his enemies would not remain scared forever and would sooner or later make their move. He was worried.

Lord Xiao bowed his head, thanking for the complement.

* * *

As Harry and Nadia went from one attraction to another, Mort couldn't help feeling self-conscious. Here he was, playing nanny to two kids – what a dreadful, shameful position. It was terrible to find oneself in such a situation in a public place, where anyone could recognize him.

He only waited for someone to taunt him – he already received fair number of contemptuous looks.

As if on cue, two young vampires started shouting and laughing in the loud, obnoxious way.

"Look at that!" One said.

"What is he doing with that human?" Other asked with a slurred, drunken voice.

"He is huna… humanitarian," first replied. "You know – taking good care of your prey, before you feed."

They both burst with laughter.

Mort suddenly felt something exploding inside him – he had enough, he was Mort Lacoste and nobody ever talked to him like this. Not thinking twice about the situation, he advanced toward two vampires in purposeful strides, forgetting momentarily about his charge. He grabbed both of them and pulled them close.

Slowly, he opened his mouth and run his tongue over each of their necks. He sensed their blood and after making sure he memorized their taste he slowly leaned back from two oblivious drunks.

"You are lucky," he whispered. "I can't harm you tonight. Otherwise you would both be dead by now. But I promise you – I will find you and I will make you regret every single word you said."

Two vampires seemed to barely register anything around them and certainly weren't worried by the threat.

They giggled uncontrollably and Mort felt sudden urge to simply lure them far enough from the City for the ancient protective spells not to work and then torture them for his heart content. They were so drunk that they would probably follow him eagerly. But of course, he couldn't. Not when he had to take constant care of Harry.

Disgustedly, he dropped them on the ground and turned back, only to see his charge gone. He looked around frantically, but both Harry and Nadia simply vanished. Everyone seemed to carry on as if nothing happened. He looked back at the two vampires, but they were still lying on the ground in and undignified heap. Were they a ruse? Was it some planned attack?

Suppressing the panic, he went to the place where the boy had been standing before the whole confrontation. He could still sense his presence in the air. He let his instinct guide him, hoping that the brat didn't go too far and had enough sense not to talk to strangers.

* * *

Harry was dying from laughter as he run. It was such a brilliant prank – he could easily imagine Uncle Mort's stunned face, when he would finally notice their disappearance. Although, judging from how angry he was, it wouldn't happen too soon.

Since the day Harry first met Mort, he witnessed the vampire's fits of uncontrolled rage many times. The reasons were usually very stupid: servants didn't bring something quickly enough, somebody didn't address him with enough respect – there could even be no reason at all. Harry found this sort of erratic and violent behavior easy to relate to – he had been treated like this his whole life. Calling Mort 'uncle' came to him naturally; somehow, on subconscious level, he was reminded of the other person he used to call this.

Even now, after half a year, Harry didn't really trust his guard. Mort had never directed his fury at Harry, but the young boy expected it to happen, sooner or later. He deliberately disobeyed his Uncle, because he wanted this moment to finally come and be over with it.

Of course, Harry was unaware that there were two different magical protections, making any sort of attack from Mort absolutely impossible. One was his heir status – no member of Auctorius Clan could harm him in any way. Other was his empathetic magic, which caused powerful magical creatures to like him. Despite his fears, Harry was perfectly safe in Mort's reluctant care.

So, usually Harry was disobedient, because he wanted to know how far he could go, he was testing Mort's patience. This time however, this has not been Harry's motivation. He simply was tired of constant sulking of his guard and was too young to understand the risk. As he was running with Nadia, as far from Mort as possible, he was feeling mischievous and very sly. He also wanted to see menagerie, which his father mentioned, but Mort dismissed as very boring.

Finally, they arrived to the large, round tent with twelve feet high, moving sculpture of dragon above the entrance. They stopped, awed by the view.

"Come on, let's go!" Harry exclaimed, grinning. "Maybe they've got real one inside. It would be ten times as big!" Harry stretched his hands far, to show exactly how huge dragons could be.

"Even hundred times as big, Harry!" Nadia countered with wide smile.

"Um… I don't know, Nadia," Harry replied with pensive frown. "I think there wouldn't be enough place in the tent."

"It might be enlarged inside," small fairly said playfully and burst with laughter, as if it was funniest thing ever. Harry grinned and beckoned at her to follow him. But before they had a chance to finally get in someone's half amused, half disdainful comment stopped them dead in their tracks.

"So, you are the little human everyone are talking about, aren't you?"

Harry and Nadia turned immediately and were greeted with sight of very odd vampire. He had to be very young when he was turned – no more then sixteen years old. Of course, it meant nothing about his real age, but Harry could feel that he was much less powerful than his Dad or Uncle, so he obviously had to be much younger then they were. He was tall and lanky and had short, spiky and slightly silvery hair. His voice was rather thin and didn't sound very serious.

Harry remembered that he shouldn't talk to strangers, but this one didn't really seem dangerous at all. So he asked curiously:

"Who are you?"

The "young" vampire laughed.

"Who am I, you ask," he said. "Not someone with whom a little princeling like you should associate, I assure you."

He stopped at gazed at two children for a while. Then he looked around briefly and only after that, he finally continued.

"My name is Essel," he paused again. Harry found it weird that the vampire didn't give his clan name. He remembered his Dad saying that this was very rude.

"I am Harry Auctorius," he said proudly, mostly to show that he knew how to present himself properly. He didn't notice everyone around them turning and staring at him.

"Oh, I know that, princeling," Essel snickered. He was very well aware of the reaction the boy's statement caused. And was more then little curious as to why nobody had yet come and stopped his conversation with young heir of the clan which was after all considered to be the most powerful.

"I am surprised, princeling, that you were allowed to run on your own like that," he said. Harry didn't reply, but the treacherous blush on his cheeks told Essel everything the vampire needed to know. He laughed out loud.

"You are a mischievous bugger, aren't you?" he asked.

Harry didn't say anything, so it was Nadia who finally spoke in careless, joyful voice.

"Oh, yes he is. He is driving his Dad and Uncle mad, you know? And me too, most of the time."

"And you are?" Essel inquired.

"Nadia, his slave," she answered with a shrug.

"More like partner in crime, I bet."

Essel was honestly amused by his very unusual company. He had not talked to children for at least a couple of centuries.

Nadia only shrugged again, but it was clear from her expression that she indeed was Harry's partner in crime. Then she grinned, flew up and did few backward somersaults. Harry knew that this meant she was getting bored.

"Come on Nadia," he said. "Let's see the menagerie."

Nadia laughed joyously and sped to the entrance. Harry turned on his hills to follow her quickly. He was getting a little unnerved by Essel – the vampire seemed perfectly friendly (his appearance only enhanced the impression), but his eyes remained lifeless throughout entire conversation. As he started walking, Essel put the hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Wait," he said seriously. "You might be safe from direct harm here, but this place is dangerous none-the-less. It will be better if I keep an eye on you."

Harry shook his head.

"Dad said I shouldn't talk to strangers," he muttered.

Essel's eyebrows shot up.

"A little too late for that, isn't is? You already talked to me." There was dangerous glint in his eyes now, as if he enjoyed Harry's discomfort.

Harry felt very insecure now – he wanted Mort or Dad to come. He looked around, hoping they would appear somewhere, but he only saw multitude of unfamiliar faces and everybody were looking straight at him.

"So, this is this mysterious human, so powerful that Lord Auctorius himself chose him for his heir?" a dwarf with wild, dirty beard shouted. "He looks more like a whiny brat to me."

A few laughed, but majority of the gathered creatures remained silent. Harry's cheeks reddened at the insult. He was powerful, he really was! Dad kept telling him how unusual his magical gift was. And he was not going to let anyone laugh at him or at his Father. He straightened up and slowly started to gather magic in his hands, although he wasn't really sure what he was going to do with it. He simply wanted to be treated with respect.

Everybody in the crowd felt waves of energy coming from him. Harry didn't know it, but he almost physically grew and strange light appeared in his eyes.

Nobody was laughing now. No, they were watching him with awe and Harry understood that his magic had worked. He looked around in triumph and let his gaze linger on the scruffy dwarf which offended him earlier. The dwarf seemed to shrink under the scrutiny and finally turned around and run. Revengeful part of Harry wanted to follow him.

Once again, Essel stopped him by placing hand on his shoulder.

"Remember where you are," he whispered quietly. "This is Grand Festival. You cannot harm anyone, no matter how much they deserve it."

Harry looked at Essel with wide eyes. He suddenly was ashamed of himself. His Dad had told him to pick his opponents carefully and only fight those that were worthy. The dwarf obviously wasn't.

"I…" he started talking, but he wasn't really sure what to say. He was bit afraid of the strange, intoxicating emotion that overwhelmed him just a moment ago. It felt so good to be in control.

Essel nodded and appeared to understand inner turmoil Harry was going through.

"Come on," he said. "Your friend is waiting at the menagerie."

And indeed, Nadia was standing right next to the entrance and gaped at Harry as if she saw him properly for the first time. She wasn't smiling. Harry let Essel lead him. He felt very dirty now and he didn't understand why.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind jerked him back. Harry looked back and sighed in relief – it was Father. His face was unreadable, but Harry sensed his anger. He leaned against his Father's legs and relished safety of being held by him. He turned back and noticed Mort, who was looming over Essel in a very threatening pose.

"Don't you dare touch the boy, you scum!" Mort spoke with low, deadly voice, which Harry already recognized as much more dangerous then actual screaming.

To his utter surprise however, Essel didn't really appear cowed. Instead, he straightened up and looked at other vampire with utter disdain.

"Not that it was ever my intention to have anything to do with him," he said sarcastically. "But I thought that it wouldn't be good for barely…' he paused and looked at Harry appraisingly. "How old is he? Four? Five? Five-year-old _human_ to walk unsupervised around here. This place is dangerous, you know?"

"Don't patronize me!" Mort's voice was filled with barely controlled fury and Harry was sure that had it not been for the Festival, there would not be much left of Essel at the moment. He thought that Essel was either very brave or very stupid. There was again this strange glint in the blond vampire's eyes.

"Whatever the boy was doing, it was no business of the likes of you, you piece of trash. You should keep away from your betters!"

Essel opened his mouth to retort and suddenly closed them again. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded more like a hiss and was laced with so much venom that Harry instinctively moved closer to his father.

"You will not be in position to consider yourself anyone's _better_ for very long now."

And with that, he abruptly turned and walked away. Mort almost jumped, eager to follow him.

"Not now, cousin. It's pointless," said Amon. Harry shivered when he heard how outraged his father was, even if he appeared relatively calm.

* * *

**22 December 1985**

Amon hadn't said a single word to Harry after they came back. He sent his son to bed and left him alone. He knew that if he actually tried talking to him right then, he would probably loose control and do something he would regret later.

Harry acted so foolishly, so irresponsibly! But wasn't it part of his nature? He was a human child after all. From what little Amon remembered from being a human, he had the overall impression that children weren't very clever.

A strange thought occurred to him suddenly. He had been a child once. He couldn't recall any of it, but he had to be. He had had parents, house. He must have done some stupid things then. It was a pity he couldn't evoke even a single memory of his childhood – perhaps it would help him deal with Harry.

He simply didn't know how to treat his son now. The boy deserved a punishment, but he seemed so subdued, so afraid on the way back. Flash of his anger returned, but this time it was directed at Mort. If his fool of a cousin hadn't left Harry, none of it would have happened. But he wasn't really surprised. He was aware how uncomfortable Mort was in his role, even after half a year. Yes, he was fond of Harry, even if he would never admit it. But still - it was obvious that this sort of taunting would throw him over the edge.

Amon understood that whole was situation wasn't really anybody's fault, but he was too furious to really care. Finally, he decided that only thing to calm him down right now would be a good, whole-night hunting. He opened the window, transformed swiftly into enormous bat and flew away.

He came back almost with the sunrise, feeling much more like himself. It was too late however to talk to Harry – he had to wait for the evening now.

When the evening finally came, his anger was truly gone. He went to Harry's quarter in rather good mood – he was going to get over unpleasant conversation with the boy quickly and then give him some dull book to read in Ancient Vampiric Tongue (Harry still wasn't fluent enough with this language, as their servants mostly spoke Russian). Perhaps_ Inter-clan Laws and Rules of Conduct_? It was bit over the top, but Harry needed to learn its content someday. It would be educational and would serve as a proper punishment.

So he was totally unprepared for the wave of absolute despair that almost overwhelmed him as he approached Harry's room. Suddenly alarmed he quickened his pace, opened the door and stopped dead in his track. Room was full of untouched trays with food. Harry was sitting in his bed, pale, with bloodshed eyes. His lips were trembling.

"Harry, what is…"

He only managed to get this far with his inquiry, when, with astounding speed, Harry bolted out from the bed and in flash was hugging him with all his might. He was saying mumbling something into his leg, but Amon couldn't understand any of it. He lifted the child up and held him in what he hoped was comforting hug.

"What's wrong, son?" he asked.

"Oh Daddy…" Harry sobbed wretchedly. "I thought you didn't – didn't want me anymore." Another round of sobs. "Because I was such a bad, bad boy." Hiccupping. "I promise, I will be good now. I promise, just don't leave me Daddy."

Harry was clutching him desperately and Amon listened to his words with horror. It was half a year already and he still felt so insecure! At this particular moment he wanted to kill boy's relatives all over again, for doing this to him.

"Harry," he whispered soothingly. "Harry, my son, I will never, ever leave you. How could you even think of it?"

Harry kept sobbing, but as Amon rubbed his back, he slowly, slowly started to calm down. Finally, he was only sniffling slightly, but still didn't let go of his Father.

Finally, Amon decided that Harry was calm enough to go through with the conversation.

"Harry, can you listen to me?"

Harry nodded shakily.

"Harry, what you did on the Festival was very stupid and reckless. Do you know why?"

The boy nodded again.

"Can you tell me?"

"Because it was dangerous and someone could do something to me?" Harry answered uncertainly.

"Yes Harry. Uncle Mort was terribly worried, when he noticed that you were gone. I was even more worried, I was scared."

Harry looked at him disbelievingly.

"Yes, my son, scared. Because you are very important to me." He reached to boys neck and lifted the medallion that was hidden under his shirt. "This medallion I've given to you for you protection. Through it I can sense whenever you feel endangered. And last evening, at one moment you did feel endangered, didn't you?"

"Mhm," said Harry.

"And that's why I was scared – I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know where you were and couldn't help you. Do you understand?"

"Yes Daddy."

"Good." Amon smiled. "Now, promise me you will never go off on your own like this again."

"I promise, Daddy," Harry said solemnly.

"Very well, Harry. So, tell me exactly what happened yesterday."

Through a lot of sniffing, hugging and with plenty of promises that he will never do it again, Harry managed to recount everything more or less accurately. When he was finished, Amon smiled at him and said:

"Harry, you did piece of very serious magic yesterday, much more advanced than anything we have done so far. I'm proud of you."

Harry beamed, but then looked down and said quietly:

"I felt very dirty afterwards, Daddy. I don't know why."

Amon looked at his son for a while and then he spoke in a very thoughtful manner:

"I think Harry that your human nature was cause of it. You see, for humans, different types of magic are connected with different emotions. Some are coming with love, other with hate or fear. I believe that they have this distinction between white and black magic: first comes with positive and second with negative emotions. For a vampire, this is not important – vampire is not affected by the magic he performs. So, although now you may encounter some difficulties, you can rest assured that they will be gone once you are turned. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded.

"Yesterday you altered the way others perceived you – it was a mind-controlling spell, which can only by caused by hate or fear. That's why you felt bad later – those feelings are not natural to you. It was also very powerful, which made the emotion so strong."

"Nadia doesn't want to talk to me now," Harry said guiltily.

Amon shook his head and snorted.

"Son, she belongs to you. She will do whatever you want her to do," he said patiently. Harry's attitude towards his own servants slightly annoyed him.

"I know, Daddy," Harry replied. "But I want her to want to talk to me, not do it because she has to."

"Fae are very capricious. She is afraid of you at the moment, but I'm sure she will forget it soon enough. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Harry hesitated for a moment.

"Daddy, are you going to punish Essel?"

Amon blinked.

"Of course," he said seriously. "The way he spoken is unacceptable for somebody in his position."

Harry pondered over this and then asked:

"What position, Daddy?"

"Harry, Essel is a clan-less vampire."

"Clan-less vampire?" Harry repeated, perplexed.

"Yes. He has no clan, no family, nobody to protect him. In our society ones like him are considered lowest of scum. You didn't know, so I don't blame you, but respectable vampires never talk to ones like him. They are outcasts, with no rights, no laws to defend them. For touching you alone, he deserves to die."

"But Daddy," Harry cried with apprehension. "He… I was afraid of him for a moment, but he was rather nice to me… I think. Do you have to kill him?" he ended with a whine.

"Harry, if it was his only crime, I could let it pass, but I can't forget the way he spoke to Mort. This is unforgivable."

Harry lowered his eyes and tried to squash the terrible guilt that was eating him from the inside.

* * *

**Author notes:** I'm so terribly sorry for long wait. I head a lot o work and simply couldn't find time for anything not related to my studies... (which I rather despise at the moment). At least it's finally over 5k words long.

Anyway, thanks a lot for all the reviews.

Also, there is this funny new forum-thingy here, so I created one especially for discussing this story. If you have any related or unrelated questions, the link is in my profile. From this chapter on, I will also reply to some reviews using this nice 'reply' option instead of messing up my profile:)

**Next chapter:** Harry deals with guilt. And he is noughty boy again. And he finally gets to learn some fighting. This will probably be the last chapter with so young Harry.

**Disclaimer:** I get no money. Nothing you recognise belongs to me.


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